Breakfasts! They can be tricky. And in just two days, I’ll be flying back to the U.S. after two weeks in Italy, to meet my good friend, thyroid and hormone expert, Magdalena Wszelaki for a conference on innovative treatments for thyroid conditions.
So, since we’re doing a bit of menu planning now, Magda offered to write a little article for you on her favorite breakfasts (and recipes!) to start your day off right.
Oh and if you love this article (which you will!), you’ll want to check out Magda’s free workshop on how to use food to rebalance your hormones.
You can click here to learn more about that. I signed up so I can steal more of her recipes! See the deliciousness below….
Breakfasts that rebalance our hormones by Magdalena Wszelaki
It can be hard to imagine that the right kind of breakfast can be instrumental in rebalancing our hormones. Today you will learn why that is so and what breakfast can make such a difference.
The biggest challenge many of us face is feeling confused what to eat for breakfast. Many others think they are eating “healthily” but, in reality, they consumer a breakfasts that are so full of sugar that they might as well be called “morning desserts.”
We grew up with the belief that a good breakfast should contain large amounts of fruit, flavored yoghurt, grains, cereals, bars and oat meal.
Here is the problem: they are full of carbohydrates and sugars.
Breakfast, sugar and hormones
This creates three hormonal and metabolic problems:
1. Sugar addiction
When we consume too many carbohydrates and sugars for breakfast at, say 8am, we will then experience a sugar dip by 11am and feel hungry or shaky, moody and unfocused.
So what do we do? We reach out for something sweet again, like a bar, fruit or coffee to “rebalance our sugar level” and this way we end up only adding more sugar to our lives.
It’s not uncommon for many people to eat as much as 30 teaspoon-equivalent of sugar per day without even realizing it. One thing you can do today is to check the sugar content of the food you eat, especially for breakfast by using the simple conversion of 4 grams = 1 teaspoon of sugar.
As an example, Starbuck’s Vanilla Frappucino contains 69 grams of sugar which equals 17 teaspoons of sugar. Naked’s 15-oz orange juice will set you back with 42 grams (or over 10 teaspoons) and a Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin label states 24 grams or 6 teaspoons of sugar.
As you can see, it’s easy to fall in the sugar trap and become dependent on sugar.
2. Sugar lows and adrenal exhaustion
The second problem is that sugar addiction and sugar dips create STRESS to the body which calls for a release of cortisol by the adrenal glands to rebalance our sugar levels.
One of the functions of your adrenals (other than helping us deal with stress) is to rebalance our sugar levels.
As it is, many women suffer from compromised adrenal and these sugar dips weaken our adrenals even further.
Compromised adrenals have been linked to premature aging, dry skin, fatigue, coffee addiction (another skin-aging factor), weight gain, moodiness, frequent sickness and feeling depleted and de-motivated.
3. Breakfast and sleep connection
Many women note that their carbohydrate-rich breakfasts and sugar dips are big contributors to their insomnia, poor sleep and waking in the middle of the night. That’s not surprising – we often experience compromised sleep due to sugar level dips and cortisol spikes which is what keeps us awake or wakes us up in the middle of the night.
Their sleep typically improves with a change of breakfast, more on that below.
What is a good breakfast?
OK, so what do you do?
In today’s article, there are tips that will help you stop craving sugar, help you feel grounded, focused, satiated, and they might help you achieve deep and restful sleep.
Tip #1: PFF Breakfast
PFF stands for “Protein, Fat and Fiber.”
Yes, this means we will be loading up our breakfasts with protein, fat and fiber. Why?
Because they will guarantee us no sugar dips, they will sustain our sugar levels so we don’t exhaust our adrenals and they will help us break our sugar habit (or addiction).
Proteins are also full of amino acids which are the building blocks on our hormones.
The sources of proteins in your breakfast could come from fish, beef, chicken, bison, lamb, tempeh (if you can tolerate soy), coconut butter but also from moderate amounts of pre-soaked nuts and seeds, if tolerated.
I know, it might sound a bit unusual to be talking about dinner food for breakfast, right?
If you think about it, all global cuisines have savory breakfasts – like the Turks would eat plenty of salami and cheese, the Chinese dim sum is fat and protein-heavy, a traditional Japanese breakfast would have some miso soup and fish which are also savory and rich in protein and fats.
Tip #2: Real food only.
Many people think of protein shakes and powders when they hear the word “protein” and “breakfast.”
Well, in this new approach to your breakfast, the focus is on using only real and fresh food, not processed foods like powders and shakes.
As humans we were designed to eat, metabolize and absorb real food and not food that can sit in a box for two years – like protein powders.
That’s not real food. That’s just great marketing and gimmicks that make us feel fearful that we can’t get the right nutrients from real food.
It might be hard to hear to put away your protein powder.
But, if you suffer from hormonal challenges, why not try something different for just the next three days and see how your body responds?
There are a couple of recipes at the end of this article for you to try, we hope you will give them a chance.
What to expect?
People who follow the PFF breakfast recommendations report massive improvements.
Many of them start losing weight, feel focused and grounded, their sugar addiction ends or lessens, the stop to binge, their energy returns, their skin clears of acne, eczema and dryness, they sleep better and many report less PMS and less hot flashes.
Is it not amazing? From a simple change like that?
So let’s get to work. Try the recipes below and let us know how they worked for you.
How did you feel after having them for a few days?
Are you craving sugar the same way?
How different is your skin now?
[yumprint-recipe id=’9′] [yumprint-recipe id=’12’]I just loved this article. What about you?I probably forgot to mention that Magdalena is also a nutrition coach and a chef. She has a long history of hormonal challenges herself (from Hashimoto’s, adrenal exhaustion to estrogen dominance) which she has managed to reverse with the use of the right nutrition. So she gets it.
I make Magda cook for me whenever I can and let me tell ya, her recipes are delish! And her knowledge about hormones and food is top notch.
Warmly,
p.s. – I hope you’ll join me in learning more about how to use food to rebalance our hormones. It’s free and gonna be a great resource.
In addition to all the tips and delicious recipes offered in this article, I also provide a ton of resources on healing, including:
- Our totally free Thyroid Healing Type Assessment, Report and Coaching Sessions
- Right here on my blog, where I talk about what’s worked best for me and my clients, as well as the latest research and resources I come across. You can subscribe to get new blog posts delivered right to your email by signing up on the righthand side of the page.
- My book, Healing Hashimoto’s Naturally — part memoir, part instruction manual for how I personally healed my Hashimoto’s disease.
- My exclusive free 6 Thyroid Myths That Can Keep You From Healing workshop — with info on the comprehensive Thyroid Fix in 6 program, which walks you through, step-by-step, the exact actions you need to take to heal your thyroid and get your life back! We’ve seen hundreds of participants in the Thyroid Fix in 6 avoid, decrease, or even eliminate the need need for thyroid medications.
- The incredible Your Best Thyroid Life Video Bundle, in which I personally invited 27 of the world’s top health experts to share their best tips for living with and healing thyroid disease.
Remember, no matter what diagnosis you’re facing, you always have a choice. Keep your chin up and take small daily action and you can heal and have a normal life again!
Jen Wittman is a Certified Holistic Health Expert, Chef, Author & Vitality Coach, who teaches women how to reverse thyroid and autoimmune conditions naturally. She’s helped hundreds of women decrease (or even eliminate) their thyroid medications and has helped others stay off thyroid medication entirely.
Through her free Thyroid Healing Type Assessment, Jen teaches easy and simple steps to thyroid healing that can fit into your busy day. She also provides print outs to bring to your next doctor’s appointment so you can get the support and respect you deserve.